"The second rule is that everypony has to play or the game is over, and I win."
"OBJECTION!" All eyes turned to Pinkie Pie, who'd slammed the path with far more volume than hooves on compacted dirt should've produced.
"Oh, what are you griping about?" groused Discord. "Of all ponies present, I thought for certain that I had you in my corner, Pinkie."
"Elementary, my good Discord."
"Fetlock Holmes never actually said that," Twilight grumbled. With a flash of light, her mouth vanished from her face, prompting a loud, muffled protest.
"Hush, child," commanded the draconequus, "the adults are speaking." He turned back to the party pony. "You were saying?"
"You've already lost your own game."
Discord brought a talon to his chest in mock offense. "Moi?"
"Vous."
He smirked. "Well, you'll have to excuse me if I don't immediately forfeit at your say-so, petite." The spirit of disharmony's expression became frighteningly serious. "Support your thesis."
"Gladly." Pinkie adjusted the glasses she hadn't been wearing a moment ago. "Your second rule indicates that you can win the game, implying that you are playing it, and consequentially that you are subject to its rules. Given the dewinging and -horning of our party, it can be inferred that said rules are being enforced as we speak. As such, your continued levitation and teleportation break the no-flying, no-magic rule. QED."
This merited a brief, polite round of applause. "Oh, well done, well done. I can find but a single flaw in your argument, but alas, it is a fatal one."
"What?"
The chimera spread his mismatched arms wide. "I'm Discord! Remember? Spirit of chaos and disharmony? The rules don't apply to me by definition."
Pinkie frowned, but not in defeat. "So it's a rigged game. You can't lose."
"Now you're getting it!"
She shrugged. "Well, then there's no point in playing."
The draconequus drooped. "What."
Applejack nodded. "So much fer no cheatin'."
"Um..." Rainbow Dash shuffled awkwardly. "Guys, you may not have noticed, but some of us can't exactly walk away from this."
Discord nodded. "The ambiguously gay wonder raises a valid point."
"What did you call me?"
He continued, paying no heed to the indignant speedster. "Are you really going to abandon your friends to a hornless, wingless drudgery of an existence?"
"Drudgery!?" Applejack shouted indignantly.
Pinkie was unmoved. "So you've gone from offering an exciting contest with the fate of the world at stake to extorting body parts." She shook her head. "Son, I am disappoint."
"Son!?" exclaimed the others (except Twilight, who still got out an "Mmm?")
The incarnation's expression became a similar blend of regret and frustration. "I'm sorry to hear that, mother, but I'd like to see what effect millennia of petrification would have on your sense of fair play."
The poofy-maned mare gave a resigned sigh and softly, sadly said "I'm sorry." Then she rose on her hind legs and brought her front hooves together in a single solemn clop.
Wngs and horns returned to their rightful places among her friends in a flash identical to the one that heralded their disappearance. Those same extremities then vanished from Discord, who fell on his face. The look thereon was positively murderous. "You dare?"
"I must." Pinkie gave a second clop, and Twilight's mouth reappeared at the apparent cost of the chimera's. The party pony turned to her studious friend. "Twilight, we're going to need to use the Elements now."
The unicorn was horrified. "We could do more harm to Equestria than Discord ever could!"
"You don't trust us?"
"I don't trust myself!"
Pinkie embraced the unicorn. "Don't believe in Twilight."
"Huh?"
"Believe in the Twilight who believes in Pinkie. Believe in the Pinkie who believes—"
"Oh, please!" Discord had apparently managed to reopen his mouth. "Do or do not, just spare me the played-out references!" He glared daggers at the party pony, a retort already on her lips. "And yes, I am fully aware of the irony."
The pink mare grinned. "You heard him."
Twilight swallowed. "Okay. But if we end up destroying the universe, it's your fault." With that, she closed her eyes and focused on memories she'd planned on quietly forgetting. No glow came to her horn, but her eyes shined with golden refulgence when next she opened them.
Whatever the chaos spirit had been expecting, that wasn't it. The power radiating from the unicorn was nothing like her previous displays. It was of an intensity he'd expect from one of the royal pains in the neck who'd stoned him in the first place. Worse, while it clearly wasn't the magic of one of the alicorn sisters, it was distressingly familiar. "I don't understand." He blinked, then cackled at the novelty. "I really don't understand! How are you doing this?"
"An Element o' Harmony's more'n just some fancy necklace or big crown thingy." Applejack's eyes were solid, brilliant green, seemingly consumed by their irises.
So to were Rarity's, azure light streaming from her sockets. "For all our faults, each of us is a paragon of her Element."
With eyes glowing crimson and a devil-may-care smirk, Dash seemed about as menacing as a pastel pony could. "You didn't hide them away any more than foalnapping Celestia would leave us without a princess."
"We represent them as much as the jewelry, if not more." By contrast, despite the twin beacons of pure white light coming out of her face, Fluttershy didn't even seem angry. Calm, stern, possibly disappointed, but not angry.
Pinkie's eyes seemed to be all pupil, cones of shadow marking her gaze. "So we've decided to go off-script."
The six rose into the sky, coming together as a single entity that just happened to occupy six bodies. The draconequus winced, fully expecting to return to statuary before he could even assume a suitably dramatic pose, much less overturn the paralyzing maternal edict.
Instead, he felt a strange blend of ecstasy and nausea as, for a moment, enough magic gathered in one place to distort space. The universe rebounded from the verge of singularity and for the first time in more than five thousand years, Discord felt genuinely afraid. Instead of the half-dozen playthings he'd been looking forward to isolating, tormenting, and desaturating, there stood a six-pack of the worst nightmares he'd never had. The Bearers had, by some bizarre arcana, transmuted themselves into a sextet of vengeful goddesses that had just found something to smite.
Twilight was once again more magic than mare, but she was not the gaunt mutant that had terrorized Ponyville and threatened existence. Instead, she looked rather like Celestia after a bath in grape Kool-Aid, if Celestia's wings were iridescent, insectile things that hovered on the edge of visibility. The Tiara of Magic stood proudly atop her head, called to its living aspect from its devastatingly clever hiding place. In a voice unlike any other sound the world would ever hear, she proclaimed, "We are the Elements of Harmony."
In his fear, Discord found enough restraint to resist an eyeroll and a "Well, duh."
Applejack stood so tall, broad, and stocky that for a moment, the spirit of chaos thought she'd changed gender. Even standing still, she seemed to pulse with life, her wings massive, her horn suspiciously Freudian. To encircle her neck, the Torc of Honesty had grown to such a size that it could've served as an armored kilt for the average pony. However, the enormous mare's voice, though deeper and stripped of charmingly rustic accent, was still an alto. "You stand accused of crimes against reality and escape from your just prison."
Rarity seemed hewn from a single massive crystal. No, sculpted. "Hewn" was far too crude a word for the living masterpiece, each facet a passionate sonnet of and to the world, reflecting not what was but what should be. The Torc of Generosity was flawlessly incorporated into the design, the gold offset and offsetting in a way to make any aesthete abandon his craft, knowing that perfection had already been given form. Her voice was the most beautiful thing Discord had ever heard that hadn't come out of his own mouth. "Since your escape, you have wasted no time resuming the reign of terror you had so callously sown before for the sole purpose of indulging your capricious whims."
Rainbow Dash, the draconequus was sure, had intentionally chosen a form designed to mock him. It resembled flesh even less than Twilight's solidified spellcraft. Instead, "she" (as if the thing even had a gender anymore,) was a wild, inchoate mass of crackling energy that just happened to consistently maintain the general shape of an alicorn. The temerity, managing to assume a form simultaneously more and less chaotic than his own! The Torc of Loyalty was slightly blurred, vibrating with the power it held in check. A series of thunderclaps, sizzles, and other seemingly random sounds, when taken together, could be heard as, "You show no thought, concern, or respect for the dignity, sanctity, or welfare of any other living thing."
Fluttershy almost hurt to look at. It wasn't her luminosity, carefully set to a level soft and pleasant for any eye. It wasn't the Torc of Kindness, with its insipid diamond butterfly. It was the tooth-rotting aura of love and acceptance that wafted off of her like a cloying perfume. Her voice was so pure and melodious as to be wince-inducing. "Your heart is without remorse for your actions, proud and utterly irredeemable." Well, when she put it like that, he almost felt a little guilty. Almost.
And then there was Pinkie Pie. Pinkie Pie, who, bucking the trend, presented herself as a draconequus of even greater anatomical diversity than her son. Seemingly no taxon had gone unsampled in her manifestation. A thrill of hope filled Discord's mismatched hearts. Surely, between his mother and the spirit of Laughter, there was some factor in his favor. As if in reply, Laughter incarnate shook her head, her Torc sparkling like the tears of a clown. For all her myriad components, her voice was unchanged. "Since the world was formed, you have brought nothing but misery to everyone who has ever known you."
"And yet..."
Discord turned back to Twilight. Really? The quintessential stick-in-the-mud? The fuddiest of duddies? Celestia's hooflicker?
"And yet," reiterated Magic given form, "you serve an essential purpose in the world, for without chaos, order is without purpose. Without strife, friendship is meaningless. Without discord, harmony is impossible."
The spirit risked prompting the pantheon. "Therefore?"
"Therefore," answered Kindness, "let us not expunge that which we find repugnant to the detriment of the world."
"Therefore," continued Loyalty, "let us recognize the thankless work of the necessary evil."
"Therefore," chimed Generosity, "let us provide an outlet for those who chafe at restriction."
"Therefore," reasoned Honesty, "let us ensure that this meeting will not take place again."
"Therefore," concluded Laughter, "let us crib a plot device from Dragonball."
All assembled looked at her with expressions that ran a wide gamut of emotion and describability. "Twilight, your line!" she stage whispered, either oblivious or indifferent to the stares.
"Therefore," Magic said with perhaps a bit more emphasis than necessary, "let there be created the Elements of Discord."
"Charisma, kindness as a means."
"Vanity, generosity towards oneself."
"Mischief, laughter at the expense of others."
"Ambition, loyalty until inconvenient."
"Cunning, honesty at its most selective."
"Chaos, the heart of magic."
Spake Honesty, "Each a part of everyone."
Spake Generosity, "Each not so much a vice as a corrupted virtue."
Spake Loyalty, "When the six are brought together by those who embody them,"
Spake Kindness, "When those six are united in purpose,"
Spake Laughter, "Then let the power of ultimate discord flow through them,"
Spake Magic, "And let them receive exactly what they deserve."
"Amen," offered Discord.
As one, the six declared, "So mote it be." With an incredible pulse of magic, the world was remade.
Celestia paced nervously in her chambers, so consumed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice her sister's entrance. It took three calls of "Tia?" and a physical nudge to shake her out of it.
"Oh, Luna." From her tone, it was clear that the sun princess was still distracted. "How goes the cleanup?"
"Most of Discord's work was undone with him. The more stubborn remnants are largely safe enough to be handled by conventional work crews, and the Guard has been dispatched to address the exceptions." The younger alicorn gave her sister a worried look. "How are you doing?"
"Fine, fine," Celestia said dismissively. She gave a self-deprecating smile. "Just trying to wind down after worrying a hole in the carpet."
Luna frowned, clearly not believing that for a second. "You don't 'wind down.' You've never 'wound down.' You go from concern to serenity in an eyeblink. Something's still bothering you."
"My faithful student, a pony who I love like a daughter, just risked life, limb, and sanity to seal away the monstrosity that the two of us defeated more by luck than skill. I think I'm allowed a moment to decompress."
The moon deity shook her head and sighed. "And you're trying to protect me from whatever it is that's gnawing at you. Tia, I'm a big pony. I can handle it. What's more, I can help you." She smiled. "We were meant to rule together, Sister."
Celestia returned the grin. "Oh, now you're just not playing fair." She gave a sigh of her own. "You're right, though. I'm going to have to learn how to delegate again."
"You seemed able to during the Ditzy Doo incident."
"That was just to get you out of the castle for once."
Luna smirked. "I thought as much. Still, we're getting off topic. What has you so flustered, Tia?"
"This." A sunshine-colored aura lit the older princess's horn and a necklace was brought out from beneath the Royal Pillow.
The indigo alicorn took hold of the item with her own magic and examined it. Despite her centuries of alchemical experience, she found herself unable to name the material. Steel? Silver? Platinum? It was metallic and gray, but beyond that she couldn't say. The jewel, on the other hoof, was obvious; a canary diamond carved into a stylized sun nearly identical to the one on her sister's flank. "Is this..." She trailed off, unable to finish the inconceivable thought.
Celestia nodded. "It appeared almost immediately after the Elements vanquished Discord."
"But... but that would mean—"
"Yes. It would appear that I am the Bearer of the Element of Cunning."
The younger goddess digested this for a moment. "Discord always did have a refined sense of irony."
"About the only refined thing about him."
"Do you know if any of the other new Elements have appeared before their Bearers?"
"It's under investigation. I commissioned several members of the Night Guard to aid my usual sources. I didn't think you'd mind."
"Not at all. This will require subtlety." Luna took another moment to think. "So what does this mean?"
Celestia smirked ruefully at the artifact. "Well, I'm definitely not wearing the thing, that much is certain. Furthermore, Canterlot Tower is going to have a new resident."
"But the Elements—"
"The living Elements of Harmony have twice demonstrated that attempts to safeguard the crystalline ones are unnecessary, if not misguided. The relics have been left in their care."
The night princess's stomach churned with her anxiety. "I hope you know what you're doing, Tia."
Her sister permitted herself a rare look of genuine fear. "So do I, Lulu. So do I."
In the exact center of almost an acre of blue-leafed Everfree undergrowth, a brightly colored rubber ball beckoned the whimsical and incautious.
Lodged in the exposed frame of the Steiffel Tower, itself but one of the countless landmarks in the capital of Prance, a velvet-covered beanbag waited for gravity to work its magic.
Atop the Drackenhorn, highest mountain in the perilous ranges griffons called home, a rounded lump of basalt dared something to claim it.
On the other side of every mirror, an incongruous disco ball teased with its obvious inaccessibility.
And deep in the collective unconscious, a draconequus considered the eight-pointed star in his paw, inconceivable thoughts whizzing through his mind. After an indeterminable time, he came to a decision.
"Well, it's certainly better than being a statue."
Discord, Chaos Incarnate RRRR
Planeswalker — Discord
0: Exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card. Put that many loyalty counters on Discord, Chaos Incarnate.
-1: Choose a creature you don't control at random. Gain control of that creature. That creature is colorless for as long as you control it. (This effect doesn't target and lasts indefinitely.)
-13: Shuffle your hand and graveyard and all exiled cards you own into your library. Draw fourteen cards, then discard seven cards at random. Cast each nonland card discarded this way without paying its mana cost if able.
3
Magic pony cross over? PLEASE!
Read through it and i feel that there are too man outside references, it felt like you were pushing it. good story otherwise though!
on a side note i would put discord at 3RU for his mana cost. just me
Eight Pointed Star... I see what you did there.
380296 This is an offshoot of another story. I recommend you check out that one. References abound, but I think you'll still like it. It stars Ditzy Doo as something of a Crouching Derpy, Hidden Badass.
380433 Well, what else was I supposed to use for a dormant Element of Chaos?
I think that Discord should have a bit of Black mana to him.
The whole "Greed and Corruption" thing is Black's whole schtick, after all.
Discord changed into elements and celestia holds cunning? Others waiting in the wings to be claimed? THIS IS SUDDENLY RELEVANT TO MY INTERESTS. This better be more than a one shot or so help me I will reach thorough my computer and shake you going "Y U NO MAKE SEQUEL!"
I'm waiting to see what happened to Ditzy's husband myself. Well that and whether she can meet up with him on a regular basis now that she knows where he is.
Mmmmm... Not sure I like how Celestia is the element of cunning. I mean, I GUESS it fits, given how 'cunning' is the only way her actions in the pilot can be described... but she's never used her 'cunning' for anything short of the betterment of her subjects and not so much for personal gain.
That in mind, can her use of cunning really be considered a 'corrupted' virtue if she's never used it for anything befitting of corruption?
Agh... now you have me thinking. Y U do this to my brain?!
Also, How the hell can Pinkie be Discord's MOTHER?!
381953
Mate, you just answered your own question. It's Pinkie. Asking any more questions will not end well.
Besides, Pinkie says that she'll be "living this story in a few thousand years" at the end of the last story, implying that she either time-traveled or is immortal.
Super Harmony Mane Six are pretty ridiculous. Like game breaking ridiculous. Like if it weren't for the fact that I know you are a good writer I would probably stop reading. Luckily I know you are smart and your story will be very awesome. Elements of Chaos are brilliant. Prince Blueblood totally gets Vanity. Gilda could probably get Mischief. Pretty interesting, can't wait for more.
381970
Or, you know, she's a Planeswalker.
Like it was mentioned in the previous story?
Warning: Wall of text ahead.
380646 Discord is certainly black-red, but that duality nicely reflects his own. Red Discord is a wacky, trolling, Affably Evil character who does things purely for the lulz. Black Discord is a calculating genius using the clarity beyond madness to solidify his grip on power and undermine those who wish otherwise. The card represents Discord at the very peak of his whimsical inability to give a fuck, more interested in peeling apart his new "friend's" sanity and blindfolded mind control than actually helping with anything.
380883 Collection of stories. Collection. The odds of any particular one being continued are slim... unless you want to take up the gauntlet.
381953 Just as the Elements of Harmony don't have to be nice (see Laughter), the Elements of Discord don't have to be disruptive. As for Celestia's cunning? Consider how ponies, one step up the food chain from grass, are among the dominant cultures of the world, to the point where it is considered easier to move dragons than pony settlements. Meanwhile, there are at least three species of sapient carnivores who could but almost certainly don't prey upon or enslave those ponies. Sure, controlling the sun helps, but the fact that griffins, Diamond Dogs, and dragons haven't been scorched off the map suggests that politics was employed.
399120 To be fair, she did time-travel. Of course, that was also mentioned is the last story, albeit obliquely.
395553 Again, the next chapter will not be a direct continuation of this one. Also, in case it wasn't clear, the Mane Six exited God Mode once Harmony had come to a decision, and they aren't likely to bust it out at any point in the near future. It's not easy holding on to your sense of self while acting as an avatar of elemental harmony. Abuse of this power could lead to one or more ponies being... lost.
399550
I guess I don't exactly see how that applies in the context you presented it though. If anything that makes Celestia less worthy of the element of cunning in the manner you've described it, since she uses her cunning not for herself or even for her 'chosen race' but then obviously for the betterment of everybody, since as you said, the other three races haven't been scorched off the map. You described the context of the Elements of Discord as 'not so much vices but rather corrupted virtues.' But it can hardly be seen as a 'corrupted' virtue when her cunning is being used for the betterment of everybody on the planet, can it?
399616 That's kind of the point on this take on the "Elements of Discord" trope. They're like the Dark Side of the Force: Powerful, seductive, and easy to lose one's self in, but not automatically evil. Rather than concepts opposed to Harmony, they are Harmony taken to selfish excess, one note in the chord amplified until it drowns out the others. But by itself, a single Element is not exaggerated to an irredeemable degree. Celestia has the wisdom, perspective, and influence needed to embody Cunning while still advancing an agenda for the betterment of all.
Each Element of Discord is a disaster waiting to happen, but an avertable one. Charisma can champion noble causes. Vanity can be a motivation to improve oneself or to do good work (i.e. as a bolster to one's own self-esteem.) Mischief can lampoon the deserving and dispel a reign of terror. Ambition in the right hands is how revolutions are thrown and tyrants toppled. Chaos is essential for the very existence and continuing development of life.
Remember, in Chaos are all things, good and bad. Would it not be ridiculous for chaotic artifacts of such power to care only for their darkest expressions? To behave so predictably? Where would the fun be in that?
On a side note, thanks for bringing this up. I had this stuff kinda-sorta figured out in my head, but you've forced me to concretize it, and it's proving fun.
400255
Intriguing... You've obviously put a lot more thought into this than was immediately visible.
Well, now you've got me interested to see where the rest of this is going to go. I'm still a little iffy on Celestia's role as the Element of Cunning, but the way you describe it as well as the role of chaos and the other elements in those contexts is very clever.
Nikol Bolas is Discord's father, calling it now. Dracoequus kind of implies half-pony half-dragon.
I really liked Elementals of Harmony and it's good to see there will be more. You are one of the people who can successfully pull off 4th wall breaches, except for when Pinkie addresses being in a story from the inside, that's always cringeworthy. But the matagaming and references were cool.
I didn't like how Vanity is an element while all the others are totally positive qualities. Maybe if you renamed it to confidence/self-confidence or ego or egoism, which are positive at least from some point of view, like mischief - confidence self-explanatory, ego implies willpower, explicitly always looking for your own advantage in everything is often seen as smart and admirable in it's own way. Oh yeah, and laughter at other's misfortune is schadenfreude, I think it would sound cooled actually.
395553 I have to point out the text doesn't actually indicate that Super Harmony gives them any powers beyond pwning Discord harder. Like, at all.
By LAUREN FAUST!!
This... this nearly froze me in place when I read it.
...
There needs to be images for the ascendant forms of the elements of harmony, and then those images need to be used to make cards. Ditto to the elements of Discord.
...
It's actually scary how much this is similar to an idea I had... an agreement between discord and the elements of harmony at some point... existence requires chaos to make it interesting and worth living, just as order cannot exist without chaos.
Soo.... every so often, as a kind of holiday, Discord remakes equestria into the form of a videogame! varies by time, and includes AC, Mario universe, etc... and the mane 6/all of equestria have to beat the game to return the world to normal! No permanent damage to anyone... (discord himself said he doesn't physically hurt ponies or turn them to stone) so if someone gets a gameover they go into a frozen sleep state of somekind until the game is won, and life returns to normal!
In all honesty, I have to wonder why they didn't think of that in the first place. I was considering making a story of it... but quite frankly I found a problem.
Crossovers like that are everywhere, so there'd be nothing to make them stand out... and I don't have time to write 3 million stories.
As a writer, do you think I should make a group for that? Do the introstory myself and let members do their own entries? Make a little group for it?
...
Seriously, what do you think?
hmmmmm....
now we need some elements of Order to balance things out. dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra_dealwithit.png
401925 Well in his defense, Pinkie already read the story 10,000 years ago.
Ah. I'm finally on this story after reading Elementals of Harmony. Only took several months :P
Honestly, what I'm most interested in is finding a piece of sexual reference or innuendo that you eluded to being in this fic after a certain mischievous eye covering incident. So yes, I am interested in some smutisfaction, among other things. Why do I have the feeling it's totally not what I'm expecting at all?
So for this chapter... I think I've only read one other fic with the idea of Elements of Discord. This is a rather unique take on the idea. I especially enjoyed this line:
"Cunning, honesty at its most selective."
I recall a fic by Gabriel LaVadier that played with this idea, that Discord would keep company with such a demon that would never lie, only telling the truth. Yet, for all that truth, its victims would fall to ruin.
Just came back to read "Mischief, laughter at the expense of others."
Is that a reference to the Official MTG Color Pie for Black?
https://media.magic.wizards.com/image_legacy_migration/magic/images/mtgcom/fcpics/taste/mc3_pie.jpg
"Selfishness at the expense of others."
----
Ambition's a teasing Disco Ball, given what we learn from Phithis. Interesting.